To use piercing gun for DD first earlobe piercing?

Imagine driving a drawing pin through a piece of meat. That's what a gun does effectively.

With a needle at a tattoo place or piercing shop, a very sharp, one use hollow needle is put through, removing a tiny slither of flesh inside the needle, which is then filled with the jewellery.

Go to a proper piercer

I second the APP thing to ensure professionalism x

I had my first and second lobes done with a gun at an independent beauty studio near me when I was a teenager. Never had a problem.

My tragus and cartilage piercings have been a fucking nightmare to heal, but that’s because of where they are. Have you got a local piercer? Look for recommendations on fb etc.

They may have a council licence, but they’re not licensed with the APP who are the regulatory body for piercers. Because the APP won’t register anyone who pierces with a gun, as they recognise it as a hallmark of poor piercing.

I mean, they are licensed and qualified and have been open for years, do all manner of extreme/advanced work. Dermal implants and what have you.

They will do lobes with a needle, but apparently that isn’t what most customers choose when given the options.

Dd had them done in a tattoo parlour. They were amazing. Had to take her passport to prove she was over 8. They even used a sterile pen to mark the spot and either used one use sterile or freshly sterilised equipment. You can't sterilise a plastic gun so there will always be someone else's cells on them that could be introduced into your dd's fresh wound.
They've positioned them so she can get additional ones if she wants.
We use laberets rather than traditional earrings so they come out if caught.
He was fully registered, trained and insured. Piercing was £25 for both lobes so hardly crazy money!

On MN nobody has ever been near a gun.

In real life almost everyone gets it done with a gun and the vast majority are fine.

Yes, I think a lot of problems come from people thinking you have to twist new piercings rather than leaving them alone except for cleaning.

@PodCastingPodCasters then they are not specialists.

For fucks sake. Don't do this.

There is a specialist piercing shop in our town- they use a piercing gun for lobe piercings.

@CableCar my nieces had theirs done in H Samual because they use some rounded safety backs instead of butterfly backs so their school prefers them.

They haven’t had any issues.

Why would you make a hole in your head yourself with no training or knowledge when there are professionals who have literally made this their career and done hundreds of hours of training? It’s not as if a qualified piercer is even that expensive 😳

Do NOT do this, this is how I wound up in hospital

I took DD to a recommended tattoo/piercing studio.

They spent ages marking and measuring her ears to make sure they were positioned correctly.

If you're in Glasgow I can recommend nirvana piercing.

Definitely just do it yourself. You can get auto piercing kits on Amazon, eBay, etc. they're completely sterile, come with the earring pre-loaded and are really cheap so you can have a few practice goes on teddies/fabric/dishcloth etc

I did my own and it was painless.

Took DD to a piercing studio. The guy was excellent, spent a lot of time marking up and making sure the piercings were balanced. Friend took her DD to Claire's, and hers are wonky... One ear looks visibly lower than the other, and it wasn't even that much cheaper (I think she saved a fiver?!)

This is one of these topics that is a massive deal on Mumsnet but in real life no one I know is bothered by this at all.

I took my daughter to Claire's as visited the local independent piercing studio and didn't get a good vibe from the place. They used a gun at Claire's and it's been absolutely fine. I've kept to the aftercare instructions to a T and she's not had any problems.

My (purely anecdotal) experience suggests it's the aftercare that's most important & those that end up with infections are changing the earrings too quickly/letting their kids wear cheap non surgical steel earrings.

If you can get to Manchester, go to Holier Than Thou. If you can’t, go to an independent piercer who is on the APP register. Being an APP member means they have specialist training in piercing technique, hygiene, infection control etc and is a guarantee of safety. Any APP piercer is a professional who will have expertise in challenging piercings, does them all day every day and for whom a bog-standard lobe is a walk in the park. Go to Claire’s and you’ll probably get a shop assistant who had to do an online training course.

Plus the fact that needle piercings are done with a single-use medical needle, whereas a gun is used again and again and cannot be adequately sterilised. And then your studs have butterflies, whereas a needle piercing gives you flat-backs which are so much more comfortable.

I had to be driven to a&e with a piercing gun stuck in my ear when I was younger. The spring mechanism broke off and the whole thing clamped onto my ear. Please just go to a professional piercer.

@BashfulClam Thank you. I don’t know 🙈a tattoo studio? would do the more sensitive areas! I thought Claire’s was the go to for ears. I had mine done in Evans DECADES ago! 🤣
No idea there were piercing studios that just did piercing.

I have horrible scar tissue from gun piercings. Ones done with a needle are fine.

It's fine. Ideally use a piercing shop with a needle as it's less likely to scar I think. But that is more expensive.
I think lobe peircings are fine with a gun, I think that's what was always used when I was a kid. This was before body piercing was really a thing.
Just make sure she cleans them well each day. If you're worried about allergies maybe go with solid gold or silver as well, just in case.
Superdrug and Accessorize do piercings too, similar method but it's a bit less hectic than Claire's I've found.

Absolutely go independent specialist piercing studio. They do exist - Google is your friend. Late DP was a piercer of 30 years standing in a proper "clinic".

Guns crush the flesh and cause trauma, a needle is far less brutal even on a lobe. They use a bar as a rule to account for swelling or a ring. Hygiene is important - sea salt and boiled water (cooled, not boiling) is a good steriliser and less prone to cause irritation than some commercial aftercare products. Also recommend titanium jewellery as it is just about the least allergenic metal, though there are a few outliers.

Tattooists often have a piercer on site.

Reputable places will be hot on child being able to consent alongside their parents, and some have age restrictions as though it's not illegal to pierce ears at any age, piercers are very hot on ethical practise as they are monitored by environmental health etc.

Also, if school gets arsey about it, you can investigate Bioflex plastic retainers but that's once the piercing is healed which is recommended tp be at about 6 weeks. After six weeks jewellery of choice can be swapped in, and most clinics will do jewellery changes if a BCR or bar is tricky at home.

Hope some of that helps x but please, guns are a terrible blight on the industry.

My dd had hers done in a proper piercing studio with a needle. They still got really bruised and swollen, then infected and then they didn't heal for over a year. I had mine done with a gun in a jewellery shop when I was a kid and they were fine.

I don't think its any more expensive to go to a pro piercer than to Claire's, our lovely local piercer does free after care for life which was handy when we couldn't get one of DD's first earrings unscrewed.